Philippines to follow Indonesia's tax amnesty - The Straits Times

CEBU • The Philippines will follow Indonesia's lead in implementing a tax amnesty as it seeks to boost revenue to pay for its ambitious spending plans, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez told Bloomberg TV. The government will target tax evaders and beef up compliance before adopting an amnesty programme, which will probably be very similar to Indonesia's, he said. Indonesia's nine-month tax amnesty boosted government revenue by some US$10 billion (S$14 billion). It allowed citizens to put their tax affairs in order and pay a penalty rate of as low as 2 per cent when they declared previously hidden assets. Referring to tax evaders, Mr Dominguez said "the tax amnesty will not work if they don't believe you can actually go after them". He added: "First we go after them, show that this government means business and has the political will to stop tax evasion." Indonesia's tax a...